on virginia’s roads, full speed ahead - the washington...
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5/20/13 6:49 PMOn Virginia’s roads, full speed ahead - The Washington Post
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On Virginia’s roads, full speed aheadOn Virginia’s roads, full speed ahead2 More
By Editorial Board, Published: May 17
GOV. ROBERT F. MCDONNELL (R) said it best when he signed his name the other day toVirginia’s landmark transportation bill, a $6 billion leviathan that fixed a funding shortfall aquarter century in the making. “The only bad thing from this bill,” the governor said at aceremony in Richmond, “is people will be complaining about construction rather thancongestion.”
Mr. McDonnell campaigned four years ago on the premise that he could tackle the state’sdrastic transportation funding shortfall without resorting to tax increases. That was a fictiondesigned to appeal to his Republican base and financially pinched voters reeling from therecession.
To his credit, though, the governor neverentirely ruled out new taxes. In fact, first hesystematically squeezed every penny hecould from the state’s existing revenues fortransportation, thereby demonstrating(since the state’s road network was stillbillions of dollars short) that without newtaxes the problem could not be solved. Hisapproach — strategically savvy and logicallyirrefutable — robbed the no-taxes-evercrowd of any coherent argument.
In the end, the governor wound up with aplan that was bigger than he bargained forand not entirely to his liking. The law scrapsthe long-standing flat, per-gallon gas tax,replacing it with a wholesale levy linked toinflation; raises the state sales tax by 6percent; shifts some existing revenue tobuilding and maintaining roads; and raises
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5/20/13 6:49 PMOn Virginia’s roads, full speed ahead - The Washington Post
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5/18/2013 6:45 AM EDT
dcmowbray1dcmowbray1 wrote:
The new bill raises the statewide tax BY 6% to 5.3%. There is more to it however.
the car titling tax.
By some measures, the bill, passed largelythanks to Democrats in the GOP-dominatedstate legislature, is the biggest tax increasein Virginia history. But anything short ofthat would have left the problem to fester,and the state’s roads, rails and bridgesoversubscribed and under-maintained.
The new money starts to flow almostimmediately. It will kick-start projectsalready in the pipeline and add new oneslong hoped for by traffic-weary motorists.More than half of the new money will bespent on highways and bridges. In all, itadds $4 billion— a third of it for traffic-clogged Hampton Roads — to what will now
be a $15.4 billion transportation spending program administered by Richmond over thenext six years. In addition, $1.9 billion in new funds will be separately allocated for projectsin Northern Virginia, the most congested region.
Mr. McDonnell, whose fellow Republicans argued for years that taxpayers could not absorbany tax increases, has suffered for his sacrilege. He was condemned by Grover Norquist, theanti-tax guru, and, soon after the legislation was enacted in March, he was excluded fromthe Conservative Political Action Conference, a beauty contest for GOP presidentialhopefuls.
But Virginians continue to give the governor high poll ratings. By elevating problem-solvingover politics, Mr. McDonnell safeguarded the state’s infrastructure and long-termcompetitiveness. That’s a real achievement.
Read more about this issue:Read more about this issue:
The Post’s View: Half-measures on Virginia’s transportation crisis
The Post’s View: Bob McDonnell’s poor plan to unclog Virginia’s roads
The Post’s View: Finding money for Virginia’s roads
The Post’s View: Running on fumes
The Post’s View: McDonnell’s detour from bold action on Virginia road funding
Our picks for in the Democraticprimaries for attorney general andlieutenant governor.
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5/20/13 6:49 PMOn Virginia’s roads, full speed ahead - The Washington Post
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5/17/2013 9:57 PM EDT
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The sales tax increases to 5.3% for the state with another .7 percentage point increase for certain parts of thestate that meet a set of criteria (NOVA meets this criteria). Thus the new total in NOVA is 6 percent. Thisincrease is dedicated to transportation and can't be stolen for social welfare programs.
rlalumiererlalumiere wrote:
Raised the sales tax BY 6% or TO 6%?
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